


The Hagsfiend Revival

by Dorkryptos



Category: Guardians of Ga'hoole - Kathryn Lasky
Genre: Barn Owl, Other, Owls, hagsfiend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-19 01:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15499767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorkryptos/pseuds/Dorkryptos
Summary: Taking place in the Guardians of Ga’hoole universe 6 months after the War of the Ember, a colony of hagsfiends was able to emerge. The division of the McNamara clan destroyed what the Guardians thought to be the only supply of hagsfiend eggs, but those turned out to only be the eggs that were most ready to hatch. Other younger eggs were transferred by Dragon Owls to small caves throughout the Northern Kingdoms, and some time after Nyra’s death, they were hatched in secret. Without a leader, the Dragon Owls tried to raise the hagsfiends on their own, but were soon turned against and slain by their own hatchlings, as they were weak and inexperienced with any fighting. The hagsfiends soon created a society of their own in a small forest between the Ice Narrows and the Beaks.Now, a new hatchling is about to be born, the son of a pair of despicable hagsfiends, but he has a difficult time proving his worth.





	1. An Unholy Hatching

On an ordinary night, three nights before the lunar eclipse, a chick was hatched. If he had waited until the eclipse, his eager parents would have forcibly cracked open his egg and plucked the helpless hatchling out, for as all birds know, when hatched on the night of a lunar eclipse, the chick would have been bestowed great power. But this was not the case for this young chick. His parents cursed at him the moment he poked his egg tooth through the black shell that had encased him for only a week. He was already covered in feathers which were slimy and wet, and his eyes were already opened, for he was not simply an owl. Neither were his parents. They were something much more, something of great evil among the owl world. Unbeknownst to the owl kingdoms, a small grouping of hagsfiends had emerged. 

Hagsfiends were known to mature much quicker than any owl. Among the species of hagsfiends, the smaller would practically burst out of their eggs as fully fledged adults, whereas the larger owls could take up to several weeks, but they never grew as slow as a normal owl. This made multiplying much easier, allowing them to quickly begin their society. And in this society, the hagsfiends obsessed over hatching their chicks on the night of lunar eclipses. So to their utter dismay, their chick who was supposed to hatch in three days, hatched early.

The female hagsfiend, Sneer, was sobbing, but her cries more resembled painful screeches than sorrowful weeping. It sounded as if she had lost a chick, and indeed, their neighbors were beginning to worry. Her mate, Mildred, did nothing to comfort her, but merely stared at the plump little chick that was now beginning to stumble around, pecking at everything he encountered.

“Calm yourself! I reckon we eat the little splat. Nobody has to know he even existed.” he grumbled out, without an ounce of sympathy in his voice. His mate said nothing, only continuing to flail herself about dramatically. Sneer was simply devastated. All of her hatchlings thus far had been hatched on lunar eclipses; she had a reputation for being quite a lucky hagsfiend. 

Sneer’s mate, after watching her wailing and squawking, decided he wanted nothing more to do with the situation, and took off on a contemplative flight. He knew the only way to calm his mate is for her to wear herself out. And so she did. It only took 15 minutes before she was in a heap of feathers heaving on the floor. Sneer slowly rose and composed herself, then glanced at the chick, who seemed to be trying to manually hatch the other two eggs. Alarm shot through her body, and she quickly retrieved the chick.

“I can deal with one dud chick, but you’re not going to ruin the other hatchlings!” she squawked as she plopped the chick down onto a pile of scruffy, grey down feathers. “I am Sneer. You will not call me mum. Even though we will care for you, we are not your family until you prove to be anything more than a waste of an egg.”

This was truly frustrating. It felt as if her life had never been so ruined. But she would tell no one, of that she was certain. The pair of hagsfiends were to pretend their chick had never hatched on this day. She was to act as if this chick was enchanted, just as the others. Despite her efforts to conceal the truth of this hatchling, there was no mistaking that this creature was not enchanted in the way that any hagsfiend would hope for, but he was enchanted nonetheless. Not by the moon, but by a dormant spark of ga deep within his gizzard.


	2. Lovely

Two more plump little blobs pecked their way out of the black shells as the moon blazed red through the roof entrance to their hollow within the roots of a large, looming tree. This tree and a few of the surrounding ones was home to most of the hagsfiends, with its many spacious hollows for families, and its darkened bark that allows the hagsfiends to blend in quite well. On a night like this, these many hollows were gaining new family members. Most hatchlings, if not naturally hatched, would be forced out on this night, to which some underdeveloped chicks would die.

Sneer was delighted to see that she didn’t have to force her young out at all. She could have at least two chicks she could fully embrace. Meanwhile, her yet unnamed three day old chick sat in the corner, watching intently. He was already twice his original size, and he was well on his way to being fully fledged, His flight feathers caused his wings to ache, but he had already learned not to complain. In fact, he had learned that he was simply not supposed to speak unless asked to. This didn’t prove to be much of a problem for the hatchling, as he preferred not to speak, but to observe, and he knew of few words anyways.

Now, the two smaller hatchlings were scrambling about, chasing each other. One of them approached the older hatchling, squawked, then proceeded to jump on him. The other one joined, and soon, he was on the ground with two, tiny chicks squealing with delight on his breast feathers. He laughed for the first time, then realized he was in love. 

His siblings became his world. He was to always watch over them, and vowed to make sure they ate, stretched their wings so they would grow up strong flyers, and learned all they could as fast as they could. They, of course, were given names long before he was. In fact, mere minutes after they were born, their mother was running through a list of names out loud, until she stopped at what she considered the perfect names. The female was named Blight, and the male, Mallus. 

The older hatchling longed for his own name; he found his siblings’ names to be very lovely. That was a word his mother used often to describe the two siblings, even with them only hatching mere hours ago, she had already overused the word. She used it many times to describe things that the older hatchling simply did not see to be lovely. The jars of strange, gross, petrified animals on the shelves to the owl heads hung on the walls. They were intriguing, yes, but not lovely. His father had recently brought back a severed leg of an owl that he called a Burrowing Owl. His mother had snatched it from his talons and called it lovely. He found that it was most definitely not lovely. But names were lovely. The names of his siblings, and the name of his mother. Although he had not been around long enough to hear what his father’s name was, he was sure that it was lovely too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter addition! In other news, my commissions up! If you like my work and wanna support me, then you can commission me for some cool art!  
> http://dorkryptos.tumblr.com/post/176536995808/the-spectacular-commission-quest-for-survivalmy


	3. A Naming Ceremony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into the new family's life.

It was nearing dawn, and Sneer had returned with several small bugs in her mouth. She presented them to the chicks, announcing that this was their “First Insect Ceremony”. 

“I am so proud of you for hatching out of those tough old eggs, so here’s a treat!” she gleefully squealed in a babyish voice. She shot a quick glance at her older hatchling, he supposed just to get the point across that he hatched incorrectly. She threw a bug to him, although it was not his first, so he was not included in the ceremony. The two younger ones didn’t seem to notice.

Later in the day, their father returned. The older hatchling was already asleep, but the two younger ones were still awake wrestling over a leftover worm. 

“You missed their First Insect Ceremony, dearie.” Sneer stated in an irritated voice disguised in a loving tone. 

“Dear, my students keep me away all night, you know that. They’re a lot to handle.” He spoke frustratedly, his ear tufts rising as he puffed up slightly bigger. Mildred was smaller than her though, and he possessed two ear tufts, unlike her. She more closely resembled a barn owl, as did the two male chicks, who took after her in appearance. The female chick looked more like her father, who only slightly resembled a long-eared owl, but was extremely haggish and very unowl-ike. Some hagsfiends resembled owls more than others, as Sneer did, and some looked much more like crows. But all were hagsfiends, nonetheless.

“I know, but sometimes it is important to get back earlier so you can see your chicks grow up before your very eyes. They don’t stay small forever, you know. By tomorrow, they’ll probably already be twice their size.” Sneer patted Blight with her port wing as she spoke this, and Blight looked up at her cheerfully, which gave Mallus the opportunity to snatch the worm from her. Blight suddenly took notice, then screeched a noise so unholy that if she were an adult hagsfiend, it would have made any owl go yeep. “Quiet, Blight! It’s daytime, hags are sleeping!” Sneer spoke in a harsh whisper. Blight looks down at her talons in shame.

“That one’s growing pretty fast. Has he learned to fly yet?” Mildred asked.

“No.”

“Then he better get up and start learning. What is he called? How do I get his attention?” Sneer peered over at the hatchling, then looked to her mate with a look of slight confusion.  
“You never named him.” She stated simply.

“Me?”

“Yes. It was your turn to name the thing.” Her mate stared at her with annoyance, then swiveled his head towards the hatchling. He thought for a second, then clacked his beak, as he often did when a thought came to him.

“Putrid!” he shouted aggressively. Suddenly, the two siblings were laughing delightfully. They were amused with how the name sounded, and began to try to repeat it. Rather than saying “Putrid”, it came out as “Cutrid”, as “P” sounds were often the most difficult to emphasize for young chicks.

“Cutrid! Cutrid!” the two continued to delightfully shree in unison. Their mother found this amusing, and stepped closer to her mate.

“Cutrid. What a lovely name,” she softly spoke. Cutrid was awake to hear this, and he seemed to puff up with joy at the very thought of his mother finding anything about him lovely. And indeed, his name, he found lovely as well. Any name would have done well for him, but this name made him swell with pride as it was his siblings who gave it to him.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first chapter of the story of the Hagsfiend Revival. I hope you enjoy! I'll have a patreon up soon for potential supporters and art commissions!   
> https://www.deviantart.com/imheretodie  
> http://dorkryptos.tumblr.com/


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